February 4, 2009

The story is about the acquisition of the rights to make a movie about Henry Molaison — AKA H.M. — the man who lost the ability to form new memories as the result of a operation on his brain that was intended to treat his seizures. Molaison's problem made him a useful subject for various experiments. Is that cinematic enough for a movie?

An exploration of his sex life might make an interesting movie. Unmarried at 27, unsurprising with the complications of dating with convulsions, did he ever have a normal sex life, I wonder? His accident happened before puberty and must have messed with learning how to date and seduce. Once he was healthy, did he have the life skills for relationships? The frustration and angst could make for a depressing movie. What did getting someone's phone number mean to him the next day?

Wouldn't the movie be more about the researchers quest than about Molaison?

I think this would be a fascinating movie. There are a number of individuals whose lives, because of some deformity or quirk or accident, have been lived largely under the microscope. These cases present unique questions of the ethics of human experimentation.

On the one hand, the scientists were clearly using H.M. for their own purposes, to feather their own careers. On the other hand, H.M.'s needs were so unique, were he not the subject of all those experiments, he may have been able to do nothing more than sit on the sofa in the community room of some institution watching TV 24/7.

"Once he was healthy, did he have the life skills for relationships? The frustration and angst could make for a depressing movie. What did getting someone's phone number mean to him the next day?"

But why would he feel bad? He has no memory. Let's say he goes years and years with no sexual love. How would that differ, from his point of view, from having deeply rewarding sex every single day? Not one whit!

Let's say he goes years and years with no sexual love. How would that differ, from his point of view, from having deeply rewarding sex every single day? Not one whit!

The body knows, even if the brain doesn't remember.

Back when D'Amasio's Descartes Error was published the reviewer in Nature I think it was, the Brit version of Science, referenced a an early study of a Molaison style amnesiac. The doctor had to reintroduce himself everyday. One day he palmed a straight pin and pricked the patient hard when they shook hands. Afterwards the patient, when introduced to him, wouldn't shake hands anymore. He still had no memory of the doctor, but the body knew to associate pain with the doctor and shaking hands.

Sorry for the lack of supporting linkage. It has been a long time and I couldn't come up with enough search words to narrow down the hits. But doesn't D'Amasio essentially say the same thing?